英国文学史及作品选读教案 Lecture 14

Lecture 14

The Modern Period (II)

ⅠTeaching Content

Modernism; the Stream of Consciousness; James Joyce

ⅡTime Allotment

2 periods

ⅢTeaching Objectives and Requirements

1 Help the students know about modernism.

2 Help the students know the characteristics of the novels of the Stream of

Consciousness.

3 Help the students know clearly about James Joyce.

ⅣKey Points and Difficult Points in Teaching

1Modernism

2 The Stream of Consciousness

3 James Joyce

ⅤTeaching Methods and Means

Lecture; Discussion; Multi-media

ⅥTeaching Process

1 Modernism

●Modernism is a general term applied retrospectively to the wide range of

experimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century, including Symbolism, Futurism, Expressionism, Imagism, Vorticism, Dada, and Surrealism, along with the innovations of the unaffiliated writers.

●Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its

theoretical base. It is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism which is the theoretical base of realism; it excludes from its major concern the external, objective, material world, which is the only creative source of realism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation, it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story, plot, character, chronological narration, etc., which are essential to realism. As a result, the works created by the modernist writers can often be labeled as anti-novel, anti-poetry or anti-drama.

(See Chang Yaoxin, 380-381)

2 The Stream of consciousness

●The tradition of the stream of consciousness can be traced to various sources. The

earliest attempt to concentrate the subject matter of fiction on the inner

consciousness of the c haracter can be found in Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy.

● Stream of Consciousness is a literary technique which was pioneered by Dorthy

Richardson, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce. Stream of consciousness is characterized by a flow of thoughts and images, which may not always appear to have a coherent structure or cohesion. The plot line may weave in and out of time and place, carrying the reader through the life span of a character or further along

a timeline to incorporate the lives (and thoughts) of characters from other time

periods. It was represented by James Joyce (Ulysses), Virginia Woolf (To the Light house, The Waves) and William Faulkner (The Sound and Fury).

●Writers, who create stream-of-consciousness works of literature, focus on the

emotional and psychological processes that are taking place in the minds of one or more characters. Important character traits are revealed through an exploration of what is going on in the mind.

3 James Joyce (1882-1941)

3.1 Life and achievements

● James Joyce is an Irish novelist, noted for his experimental use of language in such

works as Ulysses(1922) and Finnegans Wake(1939). During his career Joyce suffered from rejections from publishers, suppression by censors, attacks by critics, and misunderstanding by readers. From 1902 Joyce led a nomadic life, which perhaps reflected in his interest in the character of Odysseus. Although he spent long times in Paris, Trieste, Rome, and Zürich, with only occasional brief visit to Ireland, his native country remained basic to all his writings.

“But when the restraining influence of the school was at a distance I began to hunger again for wild sensations, for the escape which those chronicles of disorder alone seemed to offer me. The mimic warfare of the evening became at last as wearisome to me as the routine of school in the morning because I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.”

(From Dubliners)

●Joyce’s life’s work was to write only and always about his hometown Dublin. He

treated it in such a way that in fact he was writing about all of human experience.

His works include Dubliners, The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake.

3.2 Comments on James Joyce

●He was serious with both his thematic and technical concerns.

◆In Thematic terms, he never forgot to promote spiritual freedom of his native

country with his writings. Irish nationalism features prominently in his work.

The theme of Irish discontentment and struggle for freedom always appear as

a clear narrative thread. Furthermore, he loves the common people. He finds

the great value in love and passion. He loves life itself and believes that love makes life worth living and makes man invincible. Finally, there is his preoccupation with art and its mission in life. All of his major works related to art and artist and their bearing on life.